Ruling parties winning all LG election seats unacceptable — PLAC

The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) has described as ‘unacceptable’ scenarios where candidates of ruling parties win all the seats completely in local government elections.

PLAC Executive Director, Mr. Clement Nwankwo, made this observation at the ongoing Review of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, organized by the House of Representatives in collaboration with PLAC and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Nwankwo lauded the Constitution Review Committee’s efforts to promote local government reforms in Nigeria and assured them of PLAC’s commitment to supporting policy formulations to strengthen democracy in Nigeria.

Lamenting that the issues identified by the committee are bedeviling Nigeria’s democracy, he noted that credible local government elections are essential to ensuring quality local governance.

“A scenario where candidates of the ruling party win all the seats is completely unacceptable.”

Also speaking, Development Director for the British High Commission in Nigeria, Cynthia Rowe, said the UK government cannot decide for Nigeria on local government autonomy.

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Stressing that local councils are fundamentally about bringing government closer to citizens, Rowe said this is necessary following a report from the National Bureau of Statistics that approximately 70 per cent of Nigerians live in rural areas, with about 72 per cent of the rural population considered poor.

Rowe said: “Local governance is very much about the best way of delivering essential services for people. It is about enabling people to put food on their plates, to access clean water, to get health care, to get education for their families, and, of course, about economic opportunities that are within the reach of all citizens. Even for those who are in a better position in life, it is about the same thing.

“It is about food, it is about education, it is about health, and then it also becomes about harnessing the talent that is abundant in Nigeria and, of course, for every government, about leveraging those taxes which help to deliver services as well.

“And it’s most commendable that the Constitution review committee is facilitating these conversations, and the approach adopted by the committee of the 10th National Assembly is a good scope for reasoned debate and consensus building across key segments of Nigeria’s rich and diverse society.”